Dr. Laura: The Unauthorized Biography

by Vickie L. Bane

Get The Real Story On The Woman America Loves To Hate

Quick with comebacks, slinging zingers and dispensing advice, Dr. Laura is today's hottest radio personality. Sixty-thousand people call her syndicated talk show every day hoping to get on the air to be abused and berated. Twenty-million people tune in to hear what Dr. Laura might say next. And 2.5 million people have bought her bestselling advice books. But few of those listeners and readers know the truth about the woman behind the mike-and a life filled with contradictions, cover-ups, and shocking secrets. Now this unauthorized and unexpurgated biography dares to tell about the marriage she destroyed, the friends she betrayed, the family she abandoned, and the lies she tells. . .

Read, in stunning detail,
* The childhood that haunts her with a legacy of unhappiness
* Her first marriage and quick divorce, a break-up she hides while she chastises callers for leaving relationships
* Her current husband, the once-happily married professor she chased-and caught
* Her private practice, and the former patients who say their therapist is the one who needs help
* The puzzling estrangement from the mother and sister she shuns off the air, while preaching family values during her show
* The bizarre behavior that has provoked rumors about the fragile woman behind the hard-talking public persona
* And much, much more!

Genres: Biography

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 21, 1999

Reviews

[Mediaman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first reviewed this in 2008, reread it in 2019. It's an amazingly well-researched story of what Dr. Laura is really like (and that's not good!) but in second reading I found it to be filled with some errors (mostly about radio) and not that well written. For the author's tenacity and ability to get dozens of people on the record to take apart Dr. Laura, she gets five stars, but there are some factual flaws and omissions that make the book less than perfect.

The author was able to meet with Dr. Laura's mother, college roommate, the man she lived with, the guy who started her radio career, her professors, and others who knew her well. The stories are shocking--and the worst aren't just from the distant past. The radio host likes to claim she used to do bad things, but this book shows that she has continued to act negatively while preaching morality on the air. She may talk the talk but pretty much everyone in her past says she doesn't walk the walk.

Dr. Laura is painted as a self-absorbed jerk to pretty much everyone she encounters, a person with no finesse or empathy. She especially hates women and finds each a competitor, so she jealousy lashes out at them--whether she just meets them or was their closest friend for years. When you listen to her radio show you pick up on some of these things, but the mean and vindictive attitude was there long before she went on the radio.

Most disappointing about the subject is her continued lying, even in the present. She claims to use the 10 Commandments as her guide, yet the book's author does a great job pointing out where Dr. Laura has repeatedly lied about things. She especially covers up for her sexual promiscuity and gives incorrect dates from her past to cover up the fact that she stole her husband from his first wife. This now makes sense--because on her show she has said that it can be okay to lie in certain circumstances. So her "morality" is based on her allowing herself to get away with her own sins.

And, of course, if anyone goes public with her sins, she accuses them of the sin of "gossip." She, on the other hand, has no problem tearing people apart publicly, including those who write stories about her and expose the truth.

Not having a family member or Laura's first husband go on record hurts the book, as does as author unfamiliar with media saying things like Dr. Laura is a "part-time journalist" (no, she's not) or that she was #1 in the ratings (Rush was always number one, though Laura came close). A good chapter from a group of real psychologists analyzing the talk show host would have helped--maybe a final chapter that, after they read the previous chapters, would be their feedback for what her problems are and how people should listen skeptically. The fact that she's allowed to give moral advice even though her Ph.D. is in physiology means the "Dr." part of Dr. Laura is fraudulent. After reading this book you'll never listen to her show again without yelling back at the radio at how hypocritical, unqualified, and unprofessional the woman is.

The book ends in 1998, shortly before her TV show and the gay community striking out against her. That was the beginning of the end, and she eventually quit broadcast radio as ratings dropped. Her SiriusXM show has been just a harsher version of her old self, and she continues to not apologize for some of the bad things she does.

This book is worth reading because of the well-documented footnotes that tell you where the author got the information and who she interviewed. And these aren't anonymous quotes--the names are attached. Many, many people repeat the sad story of the life of this woman who loves to tell others what to do but seems to struggle with her own self-esteem. It's truly a spiritual struggle and though she claims to have found the answers she obviously isn't close to resolving life's basic truths in her own lifelong moral dilemmas.

[xTx xTx · Rating 4 out of 5]

im an avid hate-listener of DL so when i found out about this book i had to read it! lol.

i was expecting more of a hit piece but it seemed pretty fair and unbiased. more factual. it really resonates with the b*tch you hear on the air. she has so many skeletons in her closet she never addresses or admits to on air even though she chastises people who have done exactly what she has done in her past. hypocrite much?

quick easy read.

[Tracy G · Rating 4 out of 5]

im an avid hate-listener of "Dr" Laura so when I found out about this unauthorized biography i had to dive in! It seemed more fair and balanced than i expected. Overall, it really resonates with the person you hear on the air. Someone who has many demons in her past but preaches to everyone else not to do the same things (She won't admit to) in her past. smh.

[Gary Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent writing, IMO, & interesting coverage. However, if you're a Dr Laura fan, you probably wouldn't like it.

[David Ward · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dr. Laura: The Unauthorized Biography by Vickie L. Bane (St. Martin’s Press 1999)(Biography). Dr. Laura Schlessinger was a catty and abusive talk radio advice show host who made a living for years berating callers for the way they run their lives and relationships. This book is the revenge of the insulted: once the nude photos of a young Dr. Laua emerged, once the fact that she has no counseling degree became public, and when the news that she does not even communicate with her own mother(!) became public knowledge, Dr. Laura became a laughingstock as well as a target for the author and her ilk. My rating: 1/10, finished 2003.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just started. Weirdly interested in her b/c she is such a hypocrit and kind of psycho on the radio. And not very bright...trys too hard to sound smart and makes basic errors in grammar, history, culture, military, etc.
Good book but not as objective as it might have been. It would be good to see a fair view with both the good and the bad stuff all out there.

[Rhoda D'Ettore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed hearing all of the "gossip" about this woman. Reading how she demanded too much, how hypocritical she is. There were parts I thought were slow. I did not need to know every detail of the woman's childhood, or religious past, however, it IS a biography, so I guess it is to be expected.

[Lisa Spicer · Rating 2 out of 5]

don't know what I was expecting but this wasnt it